The Volga: A History of Russia's Greatest River, Hartley - C+

   At 2193 miles, it is the largest river in Europe, and in a class with the Amazon, Nile and Mississippi. It stretches from the Tver region northwest of Moscow to the Caspian Sea. "Although the river Volga was never the geographical border between Asia and Europe, in many ways the middle and lower Volga does draw a line between the Christian, Russian, European West, and the Islamic and Asiatic East." Its history is an integral part of Russia's narrative. 

  In 1236, the region was invaded and conquered by the Mongols. They sacked Kiev, Moscow and Novgorod. Over the course of their occupation, they greatly expanded trade from the Baltic to the Black Sea. The Mongol grip slipped in the late fourteenth century, and they were gone fifty years later. By the late 15th century, Moscow was ascendant in northern Russia, and a century later, Ivan IV (1547-84) was the first ruler to be called Tsar of All Russia. Ivan attacked to the south, defeated the Muslim khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan and spread Russian control the length of the Volga. This was the first time non-Russians and non-Christians were incorporated into the  burgeoning empire. The Russians established their dominance by sending settlers, establishing local governments, and by building forts and churches. It would take well into the 18th century for the empire to tame the Volga regions. The lower Volga was a lawless frontier for a long time. Throughout the life of the empire, the assimilation of the Muslims there continued to be a challenge for the central government. "By the early twentieth century, the Volga region had undergone significant economic and intellectual development, The process had, however, led to tensions within the countryside and the towns, and within communities, both Russian and non-Russian. It was in this potentially unstable situation that the region faced two enormous challenges: world war and revolution."

  "The Volga played a crucial role in the outcome of the Civil War and helped to shape the future Soviet state." By holding the middle Volga, the Bolsheviks were able to keep a White army in Siberia from uniting with a Cossack force west of the river. Food shortages led the urban Bolsheviks to confront the peasants whom they accused of withholding grain and eventually, to declare class warfare against the 'kulaks'. Famine came to the Volga in 1921. Much worse, in the form of collectivization, came later in the decade. By 1930, seventy percent of the lower Volga  had been converted to collective farms. Millions resisted and were sent to Siberia. Fewer crops were planted and harvested. Famine returned and killed  millions throughout the Volga region, and particularly in Ukraine. A region battered by forced collectivization and mass starvation was visited by war once again. In the second summer of the war, German forces marched on Stalingrad, and the Volga became the front line.  With the river at their back, the defenders of Stalingrad fought for months and outlasted the invaders. The 6th Army was encircled and the Germans would only cross the river as prisoners. 'Mother Russia' prevailed in a legendary battle that has been at the center of USSR and Russian Federation myth making for eight decades.

  In the post-Soviet era, the lower Volga is very close to the border with Kazakstan, and today there is a greater emphasis on the non-Russians in the historic Muslim territories. The Tatars in particular have established a separate identity from the federation.  The Soviet era damming of the river is having major negative consequences today. The change in the river's flow has led to the shrinking and salinization of the Caspian.  The dams and the pollution have almost eliminated the famed beluga sturgeon. The environmental movement continues to be stymied by Moscow.  My previously mentioned affection for biographies of rivers has been tested by this clunker.